Those who still actively purchase games on older Nintendo consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Wii U are going to be more than a little miffed by the Japanese company’s recent announcement, which revealed that they have decided to shut down the online digital stores on the both consoles.
Through a post on the Nintendo Support page, the company announced that they have decided to pull the plug on the ability to purchase games on the eShop for Wii U and 3DS by late March 2023.
Meanwhile, before that happens, by August 29, 2022, users won’t be able to use Nintendo eShop Cards to add funds to their account on the above-mentioned consoles. That said, download codes will be redeemable up until late March 2023.
Apart from that, users who have linked their Nintendo Network ID wallet with their Nintendo Account wallet (which is used for Nintendo Switch) can use the shared balance to purchase any content on any of these systems up until late March 2023.
Nintendo also mentions that post-March 2023, redownloading games and DLCs will still be possible, along with receiving software updates and enjoying online play on Wii U and 3DS- “for the foreseeable future”.